Verge of something new
by national babe
Summary: What would happen if, in Chell and Wheatley's final moments, GLaDOS brings them back together in the hopes that Chell will have not forgiven him. And what will GLaDOS do when they are both dead, but Her lust for vengeance on Wheatley has not yet been satisfied? This is what I decided to do in lieu of sleep.
1. chapter 1

Wheatley stared at the face of the one he had betrayed 5 years ago. It wasn't the face he remembered. This one held no sorrow or anger. The lady had forgiven him.

And now they would both die.

GLaDOS, knowing that Chell's life was ending, had pulled Wheatley from orbit, to pour water over hard drives, and make him watch her die in front of him.

But the lady just smiled at him as she fell over in the grass beside him, the last of her energy fading.

"Hello Wheatley."

"Hallo again. I see your voice got fixed."

They both spoke quietley, savoring the feeling of being friends again.

"I missed you."

"Me too. Not that I missed myself I mean. I missed you, I mean. Space isn't fun."

She gave a weak laugh.

"Lady,"

"Chell. That's my name."

"Chell, I have to say this, I'm sorry. I was horrible and monstrous, and I treated you like an animal. I'm sorry. And I am, truly, sorry for what I did. Have been the entire time I was up there."

She reached forward and caressed his casing.

"I forgave you a long time ago. I hadn't willingly let go of you. Even after all that you had done, I still had faith in you, and I wanted to save you. I just didn't have the strength. And I haven't had it since. I have been weak for the past 5 years, I've lost my strength without my friend."

If he had the ability to, he would have cried. She had forgiven him. She hadn't wanted to let go of him.

Chell, by some boost of strength, pulled herself closer to him, and wrapped around that small metal ball, and looked him deep in the eye. She wanted that color of fragmented blue to be the last thing she saw.

He paused, as if considering something. "Chell? What were we? Friends? Partners?"

She thought a moment as well, carefully considering the question. "We were friends, and we were partners. But now, I think, we are on the verge of something new. A shame we won't be able to figure out what that is together."

He bobbed his optic. "Neither of us has the time luv."

"You might."

He looked at her, confused.

"GLaDOS hasn't changed. If she brought you down here in hopes that the last thing you saw before you lose power is me, consumed with hatred for you and refusing to forgive you, than I imagine she will drag you back down there and repair you so you can live forever without me."

His optic shrank. "No! No I can't live with that! Not after we have repaired what I destroyed!" He shook his optic frenzidly. "I can't Chell!"

"I'm afraid you might have to. And I know what I am about to say may be seen as cruel, but Wheatley, please, for me, please, don't end your life because I am not there. I don't know what she may do to you, but in my memory, don't seek your death."

She looked earnestly at him, and saw a person instead of a droid. Someone like her, who was afraid, who needed her.

"I don't know if I can." He whimpered.

"Just imagine what I would do in whatever situation you are in. What would I say? What would I be feeling? What would be my purpose behind what I would do? You know me so well. You nearly bested me many times, and there were sometimes when you did." She stroked his shell again. "Remember that, and remember me."

He looked at her steadily, but his voice was unstable with his simulated emotions. "I will Chell. I promise you that."

"Thank you." She smiled at him, and he brought his optic plate up in his own smile. "We've always been on the verge of something haven't we? The verge of escaping, the verge of dying, the verge of imprisonment forever. Now I wish I could know what this new verge is."

"Me too luv."

She hunched over, and kissed the casing above his optic.

"I'mproud of you Wheatley. Know that."

They looked each other in the eye, then closed their eyes at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

Wheatley awoke, back in Aperture. The white washed walls and sterile environment gave his location away. He also remembered dying pretty well so where else would he be?

"Ah. You are awake I see."

He knew that voice. It haunted his nightmares in space. Not that droids have nightmares per-say, they just get memory flash backs when in sleep mode.

"Well, what are you going to do with me now? Repeated forms of you destroying me? Torture? Send me strait to android hell?" 'This place IS android hell.' He thought.

"Nothing quite like that. Look around you." He did. He was hanging from the ceiling, seemingly in perfect condition. He had a monitor to his left, and blank walls everywhere else. "What does this place remind you of?"

"It reminds me of, of, of your room."

"Good. My model is in good condition then."

"Model?"

Smugness leaked like corrosive goo from Her voice. "Yes, model. I decided that you were too much of a nuisance to keep you as you were, so I took the liberty of giving you your own facility, mini sized, for you to destroy. Like you did mine. But mini. You have all the powers you had when you callously hijacked me from my body, but now you are the one the size of a potato."

His optic had shrunk. He saw what She was doing. She was reminding him in every way Her twisted processor could think of, of the biggest mistake of his life.

She was reminding him of when he had betrayed Chell, the only one who had ever saw him for him and put up with him. And who had forgiven him. She was metaphorically pouring salt on the preverbial wound.

"Enjoy your stay."

It was not long after that, that she had pretty much forgotten about Wheatley. She stored him away somewhere, that even he didn't know, and never bothered him.

He was thankful for that, and that she had given him unlimited power inside his box. It was truly like a miniature version of the whole upper part of the facility.

The first thing he did was create himself a new body, fashioned like a human male's. He had pictures of what they looked like, and thought he had made a pretty decent copy.

He wasn't sure why he had done it, just did.

Well, it did give him unlimited mobility, and he treasured being able to walk wherever he liked, turn off his map and get lost in the maze of tunnels, challenge himself to run up the catwalks faster than the last time, just plain anything to get his mind off of Chell.

Anything.

He stopped beside the railings many times, part of him wanting to fall over, that would take his mind off of her wouldn't it? But he would always remember her making him promise not to end himself.

'Please, for me, please, don't end your life because I am not there.'

So he always backed away, ran up the steps, found the replica of her sleeping quarters, and huddled in her bed, whimpering and crying to himself.

It took him many weeks before he realized what they had been on the verge of.

Love.

He was in love with her.

And she was dead.

He would never talk to her again.

He sobbed into her pillow for a whole hour, nothing interrupting him in his eternal-

A loud ding interrupted him.

He didn't look up. He didn't want to. He just wanted to stay here forever, never leave, locked in his replica of her room and-

The ding sounded again, louder.

He pulled the blankets up over his head and hid his face under the pillow.

An automated voice rang throughout his minicity (As he had come to call it)

'Email

File received

Test subject [redacted] #(error)

First test run results: outstanding, high tenacity

Second test run results: incomplete

Data: 289 gigabytes of download.

Note from sender:

"Took me awhile to get this without GLaDOS noticing.

All of the test subjects have their memory, personality, yada yada put in a file. This file is constantly being updated, even if they leave Aperture without being properly removed from the 'active subjects' list, and will be updated until they die.

This is your girl.

Regards,

Caroline."

End of email'

Wheatley was stunned. Was Chell really waiting to be downloaded from a file sent via email? And who was this Caroline? How did she get this out from under GLaDOS's optic?

He leapt out of her bed and ran back to the main room, already downloading the file.

He started constructing another construct, one that looked just like her and would have her capabilities as well.

As he finished, so did the download, and he began the transfer and copy immediately.

He held his breath.

Could he dare hope?


	3. Chapter 3

Wheatley and Chell sat together on a catwalk, watching a broken pipe pouring out a never ending waterfall, into a basin that brought it back up again.

One of her ideas.

She leaned against his shoulder, looking as though she might fall asleep there.

"Tired luv?"

"It relaxing to watch this. Doing many of the things here are."

"Even testing?" They had made testing tracks simply so they both had something to do other than deciding to paint all the walls with blue goo and the floors with red, which they had already done twice. It wasn't testing like She did, oh no. There was no threat to her life, just holograms, and the turrets shot water at her instead of bullets. There was no simulated testing euphoria for him, he was always bubbling over with praise and happiness when she solved his stupidly easy tests.

"I was made for testing. Even when I tested with Her and under you those years ago, a part of me still enjoyed it. A large part of me in fact. And besides, ever since you found that 'test track building for beginners', you tests have gotten much better. Not something that as if yet will overly challenge me, but you are getting there."

"Ya think?"

"Yes. You are doing quite well." She turned to face him. "I'm proud of you Wheatley. Know that."

He leaned forward and kissed her. He couldn't hold back any longer. She kissed him back, and nothing else mattered to him anymore.


End file.
